Apache Isn’t Just About HTTP Anymore

From the ‘Most Successful Open Source Foundation’ files:

For many, the name Apache is synonymous with the most successful open source project of all time – the Apache HTTP Web Server. The Apache Web Server has dominated the web server landscape for the majority of the Internet Era, even as rivals (open source and otherwise) have attempted to make in-roads.

While the Web Server is primary to Apache, it’s important to remember that it’s only one project out of MANY. The Apache Software Foundation today issued a momentum release highlighted just how many project it has now and how large an impact it now has on a wide range of technologies.

There are no 104 Top Level Projects (TLPs) at Apache. That’s a record number of actively developed projects for the foundation. For me, the big names are Tomcat which dominates the Java Application Server space and of course Hadoop, which is now the standard by which all other Big Data technologies are measured.

Looking beyond the 104 TLPs are 51 incubated projects (or Podlings) including big names like Wave (formerly Google Wave) and OpenOffice (formerly Oracle/Sun). The Apache Way provides a lifeline for those cast-off corporate effort to find new vibrancy and grow in a way that they would not be able too, anywhere else.

And let’s not forget about the Apache HTTP Server, the one that I still think of as just ‘Apache’ after 17 years, it’s still going strong. The Apache 2.4 release came out in February and it’s just made of pure awesome.

 

The Apache Software Foundation is THE great open source success story. Yes Eclipse and the Linux Foundation are fine efforts as well, but the sheer volume and influence of the ASF is undeniable. From web serving, to apps serving to Big Data to office applications, the ASF is where open source development projects thrive.

“There’s no stopping the interest in Apache-led projects –from the number of innovations in the Incubator, to best-in-breed solutions powering mission-critical applications, to the widespread popularity of the Apache License,” ASF President Jim Jagielski said in a statement. “The Apache community at-large is driving this momentum by providing code, documentation, bug reports, design feedback, testing, evangelizing, mentoring, and more. There’s always a way to contribute!”

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.

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